Coda Minerals to Drill Six Holes at Oakden Copper Prospect

Coda Minerals has completed two of six planned hydrogeological holes at its Elizabeth Creek copper project in South Australia. The company moved its rig from the Windabout deposit to Emmie Bluff. The campaign remains on track for completion in September despite minor weather delays.

Reverse circulation drilling at the Oakden prospect will follow, with six holes for 400 metres to test shallow copper mineralisation. Historical work at the OK36 target returned a best intercept of 3 metres at 1.15% copper from 39 metres.

The mineralisation lies within the Tapley Hill Formation black shale, following a northwest-southeast trend. The staged program is designed to keep costs low while testing whether the historical result can be replicated.

Chief executive Chris Stevens said the Oakden campaign is a logical next step after the work at Emmie Bluff. “Oakden is a focused, relatively low-cost opportunity to test shallow copper mineralisation close to our existing development project,” he said. “Even a modest source of shallow material could provide potential early mill feed while underground development at Emmie Bluff is underway.”

The first program is deliberately small, Stevens said: confirm the historical result, test continuity, and expand subject to results. If successful, a second phase of up to 22 holes could assess the broader strike extent.

Oakden sits about 15 kilometres south-southwest of Elizabeth Creek’s MG14 and Cattle Grid open pit resources. Coda believes the prospective corridor follows the interpreted margin of the Tapley Hill Formation, with copper mineralisation potentially strengthening as the shale unit narrows, based on the same relationship observed at Emmie Bluff.

Elizabeth Creek is a copper project in South Australia’s Gawler Craton region.